Bill's Take: "Look Boss! I Didn't Lose The Ball!!" Monday, 10th Oct 2016 05:56 by Bill Riordan I suppose I have always been a believer in possession football and probably most of us, to some degree, prefer this style. I get frustrated when one of our players presents the ball on a platter to an opposing player; just as much as I like shots to exercise the goalkeeper and free kicks to clear the first defender. It is all pretty much a given for the committed fan. But I do wonder a bit about what we saw in the Rams’ match at Reading. I did a Google search on Reading and possession football and it looks as though Jaap Stam, their manager, requires that they dominate possession totally in order to exhaust their opponents. The result has been that they do not lose many games, but they have trouble scoring goals and their supporters are less than enthralled by it all. I was somewhat gobsmacked more than once when a Reading player would pass back to the goalkeeper from inside the Rams’ half. Imagine it: you have the ball inside the opposition half of the pitch and the most constructive thing you can think of to do with it, is to pass back to the goalie. It seems to me when a team is so determined to keep possession that any pass to your own player is acceptable, then you are giving mediocre players an excuse to avoid taking responsibility. So we see a midfield player trotting forwards with the ball and when he is confronted by an opponent moving towards him; he turns around and plays a short back pass to an unmarked central defender; “Look, Boss! I didn’t lose the ball!” If a team is to score consistently, which is necessary to win consistently, then at some point they have to take a risk and rely on their speed and skill to get past and through the opposing team. In fact, the Reading method almost came undone against what we now recognize as a very ordinary Rams team. If Reading persist in the tactics they are currently employing, then it seems to me it will result in them playing in front of smaller and smaller crowds. The International break is something of a nothing period for Rams fans. Of course, we are in an international break so there will be no Rams football until a week on Saturday. Despite Pearson and the club parting ways, with no more clarification of what led to the situation, there is no sign so far of what the club plans to do from here in terms of a long term replacement. The Rams are currently twentieth in the Championship after eleven games, ten points away from the playoff places. If there is to be much chance of rescuing the season, it would be really helpful to get a win in the next match when we welcome Leeds to the iPro. Leeds are a surprisingly healthy eleventh with five wins; but in saying that, the fixtures have been good to them so far, with plenty of games against modest opposition. Let us all hope that the Rams drift does not continue and the club can resolve some of the issues facing us. Perhaps the club can even manage to rescue something what is starting to look more and more like a season wasted.
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